Heading into the biggest race of the season, the highly-anticipated updated standings for the eKartingNews.com TaG Driver Rankings have been produced. With a much longer than anticipated gap between published rankings, things have changed throughout the 400+ positions, putting regional, national and international karters against one another – based solely on numbers. The top of the order however remains unchanged as North American karting hits the biggest month of the season, with the running of the 17th annual Superkarts! USA SuperNationals.

California driver Louie Pagano remains as the top driver to beat, thanks to solid first six months of the 12-month period in this release of the EKN Driver Rankings. Last year’s runner-up at the SuperNationals carries a large amount of points toward the new Dallas Karting Complex/Sodi Racing USA driver’s total. The gap remains similar, with former US Rotax Grand Nationals champion Nick Neri (Tony Kart) gaining only a few points on Pagano following his third place performance at the Rotax Pan-American Challenge. Jake Craig (ART GP) amassed most of his points en route to the California ProKart Challenge championship, and on the SKUSA Pro Tour this season. While Pagano will be racing in Vegas, Neri is competing in S1 Pro Stock Moto as a former S2 SuperNats winner. Craig, who’s racing at the Rotax Grand Finals the week before, is scheduled to race at the SuperNationals as well.

Jumping up to fourth is the driver on a roll – Oliver Askew. The ‘On the Move’ driver back in August after his US Rotax Grand Nationals victory, the OGP/Tony Kart driver added another big victory to his Senior rookie CV with a solid performance at the Rotax Pan-American Challenge at NOLA. Askew’s points will remain unchanged as the young driver will have his hand at a shifterkart in Vegas, racing S2 to follow in Neri’s path. Also up to fifth with his points remaining unchanged until next year is Irishman Charlie Eastwood (Tony Kart). The 2012 Rotax Grand Finals champion contested the Florida Winter Tour this year, earning the championship and scoring solid points toward the EKN Driver Rankings. Adding in a runner-up at the Pan-Am event behind Askew, he jumped right behind him in the standings.

Holding strong in sixth is 2012 US Rotax Grand Finals champion Daniel Formal (Tony Kart). The former #1 driver continues to be a treat in every race he competes, and ‘4×4’ will be representing Team USA in the DD2 category, having won the US Grand Nationals and Pan-Am event. Making his way into the top-10 is Michigan driver Derek Dignan (FA Kart). The seventh ranked driver has been keeping his KartSport North America team busy, racing in 41 main events counted toward the EKN Driver Rankings. A couple big wins in WKA competition have propelled him into the top-10, and a good run in Vegas could help him climb higher.

SKUSA Pro Tour championship contender Andrew Zimmer (ART GP) falls to eighth, and is looking for his best performance at the SuperNationals to bring home a title back to Washington. A comeback run at the SummerNationals helped the double SpringNats winner back into the title chase. California racer Austin Elliott (Top Kart) remain ninth, and should be a factor at the SuperNationals, which could see him moving up the standings when the final tally is published in December. WKA champion Jonathan Kotyk (Tony Kart) is recovering from a huge wreck at the series finale in Mooresville, where he suffered a badly separated shoulder injury. Still recovering, Kotyk will close out the year with his point total intact, holding 10th. Dropping outside the top-10 include Matt Johnson (Tony Kart) and Mason Chelootz (Top Kart).

TaG #1 – Louie Pagano
Camarillo, California

The past three months have been a change for the SoCal native, who recently moved to Texas to be part of the Dallas Karting Complex/Sodi Racing USA program. A longtime driver with the Birel brand and MRP Motorsport, Pagano is piloting the French-manufactured chassis over the last three months in preparation for what could be his biggest race in his karting career. Leading the SKUSA Pro Tour, Pagano is one who’s finished on the SuperNationals podium multiple times and 2013 could be the year he goes home with the SKUSA #1 plate.

Point Breakdown

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(Photo: DavidLeePhotos.com)

TaG ‘On the Move’ – #49
Mark Dismore Jr.
Greenfield, Indiana

It was a great last few months to close out the season for veteran Mark Dismore Jr. The third-generation driver still showed he’s got the talent and speed to compete with the younger stars of the TaG category, earning two victories at the final two USPKS events to place him inside the top-five in points after a tough start to the season. To close out 2013, Dismore partnered up with IndyCar’s Josef Newgarden to score the victory at the recent RoboPong 200 at New CastleMotorsportsPark. Diz spent the last month working with a trainer to prepare for his 100 laps, and it showed on track. He will now celebrate the victory in Vegas, supporting all the Comet Racing Engines’ customers racing at the SuperNationals.

Point Breakdown

EKN Driver Rankings Calculation Process
The EKN Driver Rankings are calculated using a driver’s best finishes in major North American races. Assembled using events from the previous 12 months from the current date, we use a driver’s best seven finishes in TaG and six in Stock Moto to determine their overall current point total. With each new release, results posted from more than one year ago are discarded. To deliver our ranking list, we tabulate the results of all the national programs and selected regional programs. We have included the results for the major one-off events such as the SKUSA SuperNationals, the US Rotax Max Challenge Grand Nationals, the Rock Island Grand Prix and the Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix.

Each race is initially weighted based on the prestige and history of the event or series with a score of ten (10) being the highest attainable base ranking. For 2013, the SKUSA SuperNationals and US Rotax Max Challenge Grand Nationals receive a score of 10 in their initial weighting in the TaG category while the SuperNationals is the lone event in the Stock Moto division. The SKUSA Pro Tour series events draw a base ranking of nine (9), while the WKA Manufacturers Cup, Florida Winter Tour, Rotax Challenge of the Americas, IKF 2-Cycle Sprint Grand Nationals, Rotax Pan American Challenge, United States Pro Kart Series and other regional program races were given a base ranking of either eight (8) or nine (9).

The EKN staff reserves the right to adjust the rankings of each event throughout the year. A minimum entry total for any events considered for the Driver Rankings program is five (5). If an event does not have at least five (5) drivers starting the race, those results will not be tabulated toward the Driver Rankings.

Added to these initial rankings are two variables that help confirm the true importance of an event to the ranking process – field size and field strength. A percentage of one weighting point is added for the size of the field, while the number of existing top 50 drivers entered offers another full point or fraction of a point. The sum of these numbers becomes the overall ranking for any race. Following a race, drivers receive points based on their finishing positions with 100 points earned for a win. Each subsequent position drops by one point with 99 points given to the second place driver and so on throughout the field. These points are then multiplied by the overall ranking to produce a driver’s final point total from each event. Using a driver’s best seven races in TaG, six for Stock Moto, we calculate each driver’s overall score and subsequent ranking.

TaG Driver Rankings – as of October 31, 2013

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